The Meaning of True Peace
by Relient
Summary: Chapter 6 Up! In the Aftermath of the war, Kira Yamato and friends decide on what their next course of action should be...Will they be able to keep the peace this time, or will it perish as it did once before...KxL,AxC,DxM,YxS,SxL,SxM,MxM.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny and all its contents are owned by Sunrise/Bandai.**_

**Chapter One**

Battlefield; a name given to war grounded areas, a site that was too common in the year CE 71. But now it's the end of the war, a war fought out of hatred; fought by two different races and yet they are the same. Fighting for what they believe in, even though it was fuelled by their hatred for their differences than their beliefs. Earth and Plant; Natural and Coordinator; one natural and the other genetically enhanced. Coordinators have long been hated by Naturals because of inferiority. This was because they were genetically enhanced and were, in many ways, superior to Naturals.

Three factions co-exist with each other, OMNI, Orb and ZAFT; Natural, neutral and Coordinator. And in order to rid the world of Coordinators, OMNI, also known as Earth Alliance Force, built Giant mechs known as Gundams, General Unilateral Neuro-link Dispersive, Autonomic Maneuver. These were built on a neutral colony called Heliopolis, a colony of Orb, and thus broke their neutrality towards the on-going fire that exited between the two races. Hence war began between both nations, but in the end, the fighting ended with the help of people who believed in Orb's symbol of peace and in following its late leader, brought peace between the two opposing sides.

But peace did not last, as in CE 73, ZAFT, the Zodiac Alliance Freedom Treaty, built more gundams in secret and so did OMNI. But amongst them are two new factions, Blue Cosmos and Clyne Faction, one who is biased against Coordinators and one who operate with Orb to bring peace between them. This time though war began with Blue Cosmos, because of their deep hatred towards Coordinators, and with the help of some smaller factions within Zaft. And so this new war was no different than the first and does not end in any different form.

The peace bringers of the previous war, friends who are re-united in their beliefs of peace from both sides, fight yet again to bring back that peace that was shared for two years and their efforts pay of once again and ends the tale of war between their people. And in the aftermath of this begins a new story...


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_It's over, I just hope it lasts longer this time._ thought Kira.

Kira Yamato, a veteran of the previous war, and the pilot of one of the two most dangerously powered gundams, Freedom, sits and stares out of his cockpit in the aftermath of the battle. Outside, one could still see the blaze left behind by Messiah, a facility built by the former ZAFT Chancellor, Gilbert Dullinder; a facility that was to be used to destroy Earth and its forces. Kira couldn't understand how Zaft could make the mistake of choosing another Chancellor, who only thought of total domination for coordinators. He, himself was a coordinator living and befriending naturals, and yet he couldn't understand why they couldn't set aside their differences in the name of peace.

"Kira!" someone shouted over the comm system, and just then an image of a beautiful girl with long pink hair, and a face he would never forget, appeared on his viewer.

"Lacus, im fine, how are the others?" he asked hoping he already knew the answer to that question.

"We're all fine" replied the pink haired songstress, obviously very happy to see him. "We were worried about you and Athrun…we thought that you two wouldn't make it in time before the explosion".

"We made it out alive, but Gladys-kanchou and Rey stayed with Chancellor Dullindal" answered a blue-haired boy.

"Athrun you okay?" inquired Kira.

The boy in question, was Athrun Zala, the son of the late Patrick Zala, and also the best friend to Kira Yamato. "Hai, but I just wished it didn't have to end this way. Good people don't deserve to die like that" replied the fustrated boy. "Rey was a good guy, he was just swayed in the wrong direction and so was Gladys-kanchou. Its just not fair!"

"Yes your right Athrun" replied a sympathetic Kira "Many good people lost their lives in these three years". He thought about his friend Tolle and Athrun's friend Nicole who lost their lives in the previous war. He could not bear to see his friends and loved ones in pain and so is his reason for joining both wars. Kira is a sensitive and peace-loving boy, who is always accepting of everyone, whether good or bad. But Kira was born to be a killing machine and yet, he only uses his talents to disable the enemy and help people. Athrun too, following Kira, used his talents with Gundams to just disable the enemy instead of killing. It was their way of showing that they were serious about peace. Though many said that it was a cowardly thing to do, others admire their strength and generosity to take the time to just disable an enemy mecha, instead of killing.

"Hai I agree" spoke another voice. Kira turned to see two others on his screen. The owner of the voice being a teen with blond hair and deep violet eyes, and the other, a silver haired boy with clear blue eyes. "But we cannot dwell in the past, we must continue forward and make sure that peace is permanent this time" said the violet eyed teen.

"Yzak, Dearka, thank you, for helping us and protecting the Eternal" replied Kira.

"What did you expect? The Eternal is a ZAFT vessel! That's the only reason we protected it!" Yzak shouted.

Athrun, on the other hand, was laughing, _Same old Yzak, always denying things…nice to know that somethings will never change. _

"Relax Yzak, he's just thanking us" said the violet eyed teen, _Man his temper gets the better of him_.

"Thank you Commander Joule and Lieutenant Elthman for your help" spoke Lacus "we appreciate everything you and your squadron have done for us".

"No thanks needed Miss Clyne" was the almost immediate reply of young Yzak.

"Now now kids no fighting" exclaimed someone. The tone of the voice was very familiar to Kira, Athrun and Dearka.

"Mwu-san!" cried Kira, _well there's one thing to look forward to, Mwu-san's back and Ramius-kanchou must be very happy to have him back. And so am I._

Mwu La Fllaga, another veteran of the war, was thought to be dead from the previous war. But he survived some how and had his memories erased by EA but now it seems that he remembers his past, and especially his love, Murrue Ramius. Since Kira's screens were occupied at the moment, all he heard was Mwu's voice, but that was enough for him to know who spoke to him.

"Glad to have you back" said Dearka, noticeably happy.

"Glad to be back kid" replied Mwu.

"You know we are 18 so that doesn't really make us kids" spoke Athrun.

"Kid in my eyes, unless your 30, your still a kid" laughed Mwu.

_It was good to be able talk freely without a care about anything that's going on around you_ thought Kira.

**Author Note**

For those who do not understand Japanese, or have not seen the original Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, I use some japanese terms here like,

Elthman-shouie means Lieutenant Elthman.

Gladys-kanchou means Captain Gladys.

Dullinder-gichou means Chancellor Dullinder

And as for Mwu-san, the_ san_ at the end of his name is actually a respective form of addressing those who are elder to you or people you do not know...in this case Mwu is older to Kira and so he addresses him as Mwu-san.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

On board the Eternal, "Meyrin-san, could you patch me through to the broadband channel, I would like to speak to the people of Earth and the Plants, and also the ZAFT soldiers" asked Lacus politely.

"Hai" replied Meyrin promptly "Channel open".

"This is the Eternal, Lacus Clyne speaking, people of Zaft, I appeal to your benevolence, we must stop this fighting. Fighting will only bring more grief and pain to our people. Im deeply sadden with the loss of Chancellor Dullindal, but we must try and stop this fighting, it is meaningless. You must understand that his way was the wrong way, nothing comes out of fighting. We mustn't let our comrades sacrifices go in vain. There is always hope for a better future, we mustn't give up."

At the sound of her voice, most ships wondered what they must do, except two, the Voltaire and Rousseau, and under the orders of their commander Yzak Jule, fired the retreat signal as a truce.

On board the Archangle, "Do the same, the fighting's over" ordered Captain Ramius. The Eternal follow suit after and in subsequence of this gesture, one by one all Zaft, Orb and Earth Alliace ships followed the example set by the Eternal, Archangle, Voltaire and Rousseau. _The war has finally ended_ thought Murrue.

"What now? By the way where are Shinn and Luna" asked Dearka.

"They are safe but I'm going to go and get them. Kira?" said Athrun.

"I'm going back to the Eternal" replied Kira almost immediately.

"Ok then we will go round up all the other ZAFT ships and find out casualty and damages. Though I'm extending a hand of help towards the Orb ships, if you need assistance then we will help you out. It's our way of saying ceasefire..." after a moments pause "and thanks." replied Yzak.

_Wow, Yzak really has grown up a lot. Granted he is older than Kira and I, but he always acted like a kid. Things really have changed a lot._

"Thank you Commander Joule, we need all the help we can get." Ramius replied "And we extend a similar invitation over to you and your fellow ZAFT soldiers. Hopefully this will be the first step to real peace."

"You really have changed Yzak" spoke Athrun.

"URUSAI!" shouted Yzak.

"He is just trying to say something nice" said Dearka.

"Dearka...KISAMA!" shouted Yzak.

"Yare yare" sighed Dearka. All Athrun could do was laugh at the exchange between friends. With that he turned around and went towards Shinn and Luna's position.

Meanwhile…

Shinn and Luna both heard Lacus Clyne's speech and felt dire, they had played a huge role in the destruction of many bases and such but only now did they realise that they weren't the only ones dealing with pain. Shinn felt the worse out of both since he realised that he was indeed fighting out of anger and not purpose. He could still hear Athrun's words from their last battle…

**You need to stop fighting while you're still trapped in your past! Doing something like this won't bring anyone back! Do you intend to kill even your future? Was such power something you truly wanted?**

_**Kono Bakayaro!**_

He realised that Athrun was right, he couldn't bring his parents back, and he couldn't bring Mayu or Stella back. All he could do was remember them and what they stood for and nothing more. He felt horrible for what he had done for the past year, the pain that he has caused and the words he spoke to Uzumi's daughter Cagalli. All this time he only cared about his pain and nobody elses.

He turned around and looked at Luna, the only left that he loved and vowed that he would protect her and make her happy. Luna, on the otherhand, didn't fell any better because she herself did the same when she thought that her sister was dead. She felt terrible and only now understands what Athrun has been fighting for all this time. While he fought to keep the peace, they fought to break it.

Just then they heard engines, turning to see the Infinite Justice coming towards; Athrun coming to get them. They didn't think that Athrun would be the one to come and get them after what they had done.

"Shinn. Luna. Are you guys okay?" asked a worried Athrun, He didn't really need an answer from them as he could see them, but he did anyway. Shinn though didn't feel like he could face Athrun yet. He didn't know if Athrun would readily accept him after all that he has done and so wanted to avoid him for some time. Athrun extended his gundam's arm and spread its fingers in a gesture for them to step on it. Once he knew that he had them, he made his way back to the Eternal.

**Author's Note:**

Urusai means keep quiet in nice terms :), wont go towards what Kisama means but you get the drift. If its Yzak then its obviously not something nice.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

On board the Eternal, Lacus Clyne waited anxiously for Kira to land his gundam. Once she saw the white and blue gundam enter the hanger, she could wait no more. She ran up to the gundam, right as Kira came down from the cockpit and leaped on him and hugged him. Kira, happy to see Lacus, returned the gesture gladly; he missed her very much and even though he knew that she was safe, it wasn't enough for him unless she was in his arms. "The crew…." asked Kira tentatively.

"We took some damage, but its not as bad as the Minerva or Archangel. We should be able to be under way in 9 hours or so" replied Martin Da Costa without delay. Martin, another veteran of the previous war, was one of the ZAFT soldiers who joined the Clyne Faction with Andrew Bartfeldt, and served under Lacus Clyne during the first war aboard the Eternal.

"Thank you Da Costa-san" thanked Kira politely. "But we are going to stay to help out the ZAFT ships?" inquired Kira "...right?".

"Why yes we are, we cannot just leave without helping them; it would not be right. I have already heard word that many of the mobile suit pilots are stranded because their mother ships were destroyed and so I sent out some shuttles to pick them up and offer medical assistance" exclaimed the songstress, "Hai hai Lacus" laughed Kira.

Just then they heard engines roar through the hanger and took notice of a red Gundam and two ZAFT Zakus landing in the hanger bay. The said gundam being Justice, Athrun's gundam, lowered its arm and let out two survivors. Just as the girl got off one could hear footsteps running into the hanger.

"LUNA!" Meyrin Hawke shouted as she saw her sister for the first time after that fated day, when she and Athrun was shot down by Shinn.

"Meyrin…" Luna replied, as the two hugged each other, happy to see the other.

"I thought you were dead! They said that the Zaku you and Athrun flew, was destroyed and I was crushed when I found out…im so happy to see and know that they were wrong" cried a saddened Luna "I know I was wrong, and I know what I did was wrong, can you ever forgive me for what I have done?"

"There is nothing to be forgiven for, you're here, I'm here and the people we care about are still here…that's all that matters" spoke Meyrin _She has become wiser since the last time I spoke with her. Oh how much have I missed out on my baby sister's life I wonder _thought Luna.

"Shinn?" it wasn't a question, but more like a tentative statement. The said boy was lost in his own thoughts and did not register what was going until a little later. When he did realise that Meyrin was calling out his name, he felt embarrassed for dazing off.

"Hai"

"It's good to see you. You seem uneasy. If its something Athrun said then don't take it too seriously, Athrun always means well, he just doesn't know how to put it in words" said Meyrin, obviously worried that Shinn may have taken Athrun's words to heart.

"No no it's not that, I'm just thinking about things, the war, my family, what I'm gonna do now….." replied an unsure Shinn.

All this time, Kira and Lacus observed the exchange between friends and felt sadden at Shinn's shattered form. Kira knew that Shinn had a lot to atone for but he also knows that Shinn was too young to be a part of the war and that he lost a lot because of both wars. Kira felt bad for him and wanted to help but he was unsure whether or not Shinn would accept his help. And so he turned towards Athrun, Dearka and Yzak, and made his way towards them.

As he approached them, he could already hear Athrun and Yzak bickering and couldn't help but laugh at them. "What are you always doing in my battlefields?" cried Yzak.

"Your battlefield, when did it become your battlefield Yzak, I was there first you know" snapped back Athrun.

"Its Commander Joule to you Zala" snided Yzak.

"Maa Maa come down guys!" sighed Dearka "Hey Kira, wanna help me separate these two, or should we let them bicker through the night" laughed Dearka.

"KISAMA!" both Yzak and Athrun yelled at Dearka.

Just then Dearka noticed a shuttle landing in the hanger. _Maybe its one of the shuttles Lacus must have sent out to pick up ZAFT soldier._ To his surprise, it wasn't a ZAFT soldier that exited the shuttle instead...

_Miriallia!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Just then Dearka noticed a shuttle landing in the hanger. _Maybe its one of the shuttles Lacus must have sent out to pick up ZAFT soldier._ To his surprise, it wasn't a ZAFT soldier that exited the shuttle but instead Miriallia Haww, followed by Mwu La Fllaga and Murrue Ramius, captain of the battleship Archangel, also known as the legged ship. "Miriallia" breathed Dearka, _She is as beautiful as she was the day she left me, actually even more beautiful._

Miri turned and noticed Dearka standing with Kira, someone she didn't expect to see after what had happened between them. Nonetheless, she wouldn't dare say that she wasn't the slightest bit happy to see him again, _those beautiful violets eyes_._ I truely have missed him, even though I left. But I'll never admit that to him._

"Dearka…." she whispered softly.

The exchange did not go unnoticed by Dearka's best friend Yzak, _So this is that Natural girl Dearka keeps talking about. I'll admit that she is pretty but she is still a Natural. What does Dearka see in her?_

At the end of the first war in CE 71, Yzak had only a brief opportunity of meeting Miriallia and hence did not know much about her, except that she was a Natural and Archangel's CIC. Over the last two years he had heard a lot of her from Dearka but never saw or heard of her until now. It always intrigued him how Dearka was so attached to this girl, and spoke so highly of her.

Kira walked up to the new arrivals and greeted them with the utmost happiness. Captain Ramius bore a smile that she never showed since Mwu's supposed death, defending the Archangel. Kira felt joy seeing her so happy, reunited with Mwu, after everything that has happened. He felt she deserved as much happiness as the rest of them, she commanded her crew through every difficult situation and always thought the best for them. There was no greater captain out there for Kira than Ramius-kanchou.

"Ramius-kanchou, Mwu-san, Miri its so good to see you all" Kira said with a smile "it looked bad for a bit, but we did it in the end".

"You did it Kira, all of you did, thank you. You have ended the fighting once more, if only people knew of what you all have done for them." said Ramius with sadness. _These boys will never really recieve the thanks they deserve for everything they have done._

"No, _we_ did it" exclaimed Athrun while pointing to everyone in the hanger "even if we were the ones out there fighting in our mobile suits, without the dedicated crews of these ships, we would never have succeeded" _and Cagalli too_ Athrun thought sadly.

"Athrun..." Kira whispered with awe.

"Yup" Dearka chipped in, swinging an arm around Athrun, "where would we be without the motherships. Definitely not here because I for one cannot handle fixing my Zaku without help." This made everyone laugh at Dearka's attempted humor. Even Miriallia was laughing beside Mwu, which made Dearka blush. Yzak just shook his head at his best friend's antics.

To Shinn everything going on around him was just a blur. He watched the exchange between friends, not really listening to what was being said, rather just observing their behaviours, envying them and their close friendship with each other. Even if some of them did not have a family now, their friend were like their family. All his life he only focused on getting revenge against the people he blamed for the death of his family. But here, in the Eternal's Hanger, were people who lost not only family, but friends in the past years and they learned to move on and accept the cards fate dealt them. They found strength in each other and supported one another along the way. _I dont know what to do now, everything seems so messed up. The war, my family, Rey, everything is weighing heavily on me. The lives lost in this war, lives that I ended in my quest for revenge. I dont know anymore._

The turmoil in Shinn went unnoticed by most in the hanger, except the people surrounding him. Very few knew what was going through Shinn's mind but didn't know how to approach the young man. Kira kept glancing at Shinn to make sure he was ok even though he knew deep in his heart, that it would take Shinn a long while to come to terms with what has happened this past year, and his involvement in it. He looked at Athrun and shared a knowing glance with his childhood friend.

At that moment, Miriallia's stance suddenly became serious and she started walking towards Shinn, "Milly..." questioned Kira, which was echoed by Murrue. Miri walked up to Shinn and stopped when the boy looked up at her. Even though Shinn was the one piloting Impulse and Destiny, all she saw was a distraut boy who was drawn into a war he shouldn't have had to fight in. _If I can forgive Athrun and become friends with him, then I can be friends with anyone_ "Miriallia Haww. You are the pilot of Impulse and Destiny ne.." Miriallia asked. "Shinn Asuka" was the soft reply, _Who is she? _"Shinn huh, well Shinn lets be friends ne" Miri chimed with a smile "The war is over, we all did what we felt was right, but its in the past now. All we can do is move on and make new friends."

Shinn was completely blown away, _Why does this girl want to be my friend? After all the things I did against the Archangel and ORB, she calmly offers a hand of friendship towards me_. Meyrin could only smile at Miri, she had interacted with the Archangel's CIC officer before and felt her to be a soft and kind girl but also realistic. It did not surpirse her that Miriallia would be the first one to try and make friends with Shinn and the others.

"See I told you she was perfect" whispered Dearka to his friend. "I think she's too naive" snipped Yzak. All Dearka could do was sigh at his friend's childishness _How he become a Commader is beyond me._

Miri extended her hand "Friends?" she asked. _Its time to move on_, Shinn thought remembering Stella's words to him. "Friends" Shinn spoke back, accepting her hand in a friendly shake. Luna then took the opportunity to introduce herself to Miriallia, while Meyrin chimmed that she was her sister. The exchange went on amongst the new friends, while the rest just observed them. Kira felt he should stay away from Shinn and give him room knowing that Shinn had a deep hatred for him since the destruction of GFAS-X1 Destroy. With that Kira bid farewell to his friends and left the launch bay, making his way to his room for some much needed rest.

Seeing Kira leave, Yzak felt it was his queue to return to the Voltaire and oversee repairs, "I'll be making my way back to the Voltaire, I will need to find room for the Minerva crew onboard the Voltair and Rousseau. If the crew is kept together they will need a new Captain." Minerva was one of the lead Zaft vessels whose engines were destroyed by Athrun, rendering the crew stranded on an astroid. At the thought of the Minerva, Athrun could only think of Captain Gladys, who he had admired very much. He felt sad thinking about her death, and that of Rey.

"A new Captain?" questioned Luna, "but what about Gladys-kanchou?" but just as the words exited her lips, Luna realised that the only way a Captain would be replaced was if he or she had perished in the line of duty. "You can't be serious! She cannot be dead!" exclaimed Shinn. Athrun felt it was his turn then to answer the two, "Gladys-kanchou and Rey decided to stay with Chancellor Dullindal on Messiah."

"Tell me everything that happened on the Messiah!" demanded Shinn. Athurn prepared himself for the long, yet sad story of what happened when he went after Kira aboard the Massiah.

"We went in to look for the gichou..." Athrun was cut off by Luna "_we_?" "Freedom's pilot and myself, we went in to ask Chancellor Dullindal why he had done all of this and to kill him if necessary. I didnt see what happened at first because I arrived late, but when I got there, Gladys-kanchou was there and everyone was pointing guns at each other. The next thing I know, a shot was fired, the Chancellor went down and Gladys-kanchou ran up to him. Thats when I noticed Rey was on my right, he fired the shot at the gichou and he started crying. We went up to the gichou but kanchou told us to leave and said that she and Rey would stay with the Chancellor." Athrun finished with tears in his eyes remembering Talia Gladys' last words to him and Kira.

_**Please tell Captain Ramius this, I have a child, a boy actually. Meet him one day.**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Once Athrun had finished recounting the events that aspired on the Messiah, everyone was shocked at what they heard. The shock was more because they did not know of Captain Gladys' relations with the Chancellor.

_Gladys-kanchou stayed on the Messiah_ Ramius thought mournfully. At the start of the war, when ORB and ZAFT were still neutral to one another, the Minerva had stopped at ORB for repairs, and that was where the two captains met each other. Though at the time, the way the war was going, Ramius never told Talia Gladys that she was infact the captain of the legged ship, Archangel. They had become friends and even though she did not want to decieve the other captain, Murrue had no choice in the matter. Once the Archangel came out of hiding and went head on against the Minerva, Talia figured out who captained the Archangel. Even though Captain Gladys was only following orders believing the Chancellor to be a man of his word, Ramius didn't hold any animosity towards her. She had felt from their conversations that the Chancellor was special to the other captain, but did not feel it was her place to ask about it. Murrue held a lot of respect for the ZAFT captain, not only because she was older and wiser, but simply because Talia was a person of high morals and culture. She knew when to be strict with her crew and when not to, when to be a captain and when a friend. She would never blindly follow orders like many others in her position, but instead would argue about anything she felt was wrong. Murrue had thought that at the end of the war, she would get another opportunity to speak with the Minerva's captain, hoping to learn more about her and from her.

"If we didnt leave then when she asked us to, we would have never made it out in time. We owe our lives to the kanchou." Athrun said with deep sadness, knowing that he owed the captain his and his best friend's lives.

Shinn had never seen this side of Athrun, infact he knew very little about him, except for what he heard in the academy and seen in personal files. Shinn had never been one to show any remorse for killing an enemy. Even though Athrun fought against them, Shinn now realizes that Athrun never saw them as enemies. He understood why Athrun took more time in disabling an enemy craft rather than destroying it. Athrun saw them as people, people who fought to save their kind, to him it wasn't just a machine he was fighting against, but a person whose loss would be mourned by loved ones. To Shinn, even though Stella was on EA's side and fought against him, he still loved her knowing that she was only being manipulated. _Maybe its the same case here, if we were manipulated into thinking that the only way to gain peace was to destroy the opposing faction, what's to say that EA didn't instill the same notion into their soldiers._ Shinn started noticing a pattern since the beginning of this war, he felt betrayed that his one and only true friend, Rey, had manipulated him into doing the Chancellor's bidding. At the thought of it, acting on his emotions, all Shinn wanted to do was break something...anything. He felt like a fool for allowing people to use him for their own gain.

"Kuso!" Shinn screamed while slamming his fist into the bulkhead. "I have been such a fool, my revenge blinded me to everything that was really going on. If I wasn't such a blind fool, I would have seen through the Chancellor's plan from the beginning, and Rey manipulating me into doing everything I did. All it took them was to say the words I wanted them to say." Shinn broke down into tears, angry at himself, his friend Rey but most of all, Chancellor Dullindal.

Athrun walked up to Shinn and put a hand on his shoulder in sympathy, "No you were both manipulated" Athrun pointed out, remembering that he skipped out on Rey's words during his story. "Rey was equally decieved by the gichou. He was told that he had no choice but to follow the life Rau lead just because he was a clone like Rau. But that isn't true, regardless of who or what you are, your life and future is your own. You decide what you want to do with it, even if it is short. And Rey understood all of that in the end, that's why he fired upon the gichou, his only guardian and I guess father you could say. When the gichou asked why Rey fired the shot, Rey said it was because we fought for our future. He realised in the end that the Chancellor's plan would take that right away from everyone, a right to choose their own existence."

Long before the war, when direct human cloning was illegal, Mwu La Flaga's father, Al Da Flaga, had made a deal with Ulen Hibiki, to make a clone in exchange for research grants. He felt that his son Mwu, was impure because of his mothers inferior DNA and did not want him inheriting his fortune. Instead he wanted a clone, one he would approve of as a son, and would be an exact copy of himself. Unfortunately, after the first clone, Rau La Flaga, who later went by Rau Le Creuset, was created and found to be unstable, several other clones were made, one of them being Rey Za Burrel. These experiements ultimately lead Hibiki to his Ultimate Coordinator Prject, which created Kira Yamato. Rau harboured ill feelings against his "father" for creating him and considers himself an abomination. Because of the fact that Rau was to be Al Da Flaga's son, he had short telomeres in his DNA, making him age rapidly in order to catch up to Mwu in age and replace him. Rey inturn had the same unstable genetic makeup, which lead the two to believe they didn't have much of a future. Rau believed that humanity was doomed to wipe itself out, and he didn't want to wait around for it, instead he believed that all life should deserve to perish, like him. Rey on the other hand believed the opposite of Rau, while Rau encouraged man's self-destruction, Rey wanted to preserve life, thinking that any life is worth living.

As Athrun was about to continue, Lacus looked at him as if asking for permission to say something. Athrun just nodded, letting Lacus carry on the conversation, "I know Rey is not just any friend for you Shinn, because if he were, you wouldn't react the way you did. But we all make mistakes, no one is perfect, we all fought believing in the people we fought under. Things happen in war but it doesn't change who we are in our hearts. We lose those dear to us but we can only honor their memories and wishes. Rey truely believed he had no future and that drove him to believe everything that the Chancellor said. He felt that everyone deserved the right to a future, even if it was something denied to him. Rey stayed true to his feelings in the end, even if it meant turning against the man who raised him."

"Even though we weren't all on the same side in the beginning, we still fought for the same thing, a peaceful world. And in the end, we all fought side by side for that." Milly said, looking at Dearka. "You are no different than what we were in the first war, only after drastic events took place, did we start realizing what the war was truely about. As long as there are differences, there will always be conflicts. But we must put aside our differences and try to co-exist with one another. Things like revenge will never make anything right or go back to how they used to be, it will just fuel more hatred. Sometimes things happen even though you try your hardest to make sure they dont, it's fate. I forgave Athrun long ago for what happened in the last war, because I know that he was devasted by the death of his friends, and was acting purely on his emotions. It was an unfortunate turn of events but with the circumstances then, I don't really see how it could have turned out differently."

At the mention of her deceased boyfriend, Dearka noticed that she still harbored some attachment towards Tolle, even though he died two years ago. _Its not something you can just forget, even if its been more than 10 years_. But Miriallia dealt with the situation as best as she could, and even though she knew she could never bring Tolle back, the events of both wars reminded her of the darkest of emotions in people, whether natural or coordinator. She lived her life accepting the fact that coordinators and naturals were untimately the same, each driven by their faith and values.

Before the first war broke out, Miriallia used to be a student on the ORB colony, Heliopolis, along with her boyfriend Tolle Koenig. When ZAFT infiltrated the colony under the assumption that mobile suits were built and being stored there by ORB Union's Morgenroete Corporation, the colony was caught in the middle of the crossfire. In the end, the colony was destroyed and Milly escaped along with her boyfriend and friends on the EA ship, Archangel, that was also hidden in the colony. They ended up helping out the crew of the Archangel by taking up bridge duties, as most of the crew did not survive ZAFT's attack. The Archangel was the mothership for the five mobile suits hidden on Heliopolis, and out of the five, only one remained onboard the ship. The other four, which were taken by the Le Creuset team that infiltrated the colony, were the base unit GAT-X102 Duel, piloted by Yzak Joule, first of the GAT-X series of Gundams meant to be a general-purpose unit. The assault unit GAT-X103 Buster, piloted by Dearka Elthman, a medium-range artillery unit with sniping capabilities. A stealth unit, GAT-X207 Blitz, piloted by Nicol Amarfi who lost his life in the last war, equipped with a Mirage Colloid system. And last was the GAT-X303 Aegis, piloted by Athrun Zala, was a commander unit that could transform into mobile armor and was equipped with one of the most deadly beam cannons, Scylla. The last of the five is GAT-X105, initially meant to be taken by Rusty Mackenzie of the Le Creuset team, was the only one prevented from being stolen and was piloted by Kira Yamato. It was a multi-mode unit that used a Pack system making it the perfect unit for any type of battle. The original pilot was meant to be Murrue Ramius, but with the operating system incomplete, it would have been difficult operating such a suit for a natural. Murrue instead gave piloting rights to Kira after his first battle in the suit against the Le Creuset team, which gave Kira the opportunity to complete Strike's OS and also enlisting him within the ranks of the Earth Alliance forces.

Out of the five suits, only two survived the last war, remaining with the Morgenroete Corporation; Duel and Buster. Nicol Amarfi's unit, Blitz was destroyed in battle against the Strike Gundam, where Nicol rushed Kira in order to protect Athrun, not listening to the cries of his friend and superior. In his hasty decision, Blitz was sliced into by Kira's Gundam and resulted in the destruction of the said unit and the death of the pilot. His death left an impact on the rest of the team, leaving them all enraged at the Strike pilot for taking away yet another comrade. This also affected Kira profoundly, as he realised that he had not just killed a soldier, but someones friend; Athrun's to be exact. In light of this, Athrun vowed to avenge his friend by killing Kira the next time they met on the battlefield, which wasn't long. In blind sighted revenge, Athrun destroyed a Skygrasper that was being piloted by Kira's friend and Milly boyfriend, Tolle. Like Athrun, Kira enraged at the death of his friend, was locked in a deadly duel with Athrun, resulting in the destruction of both Gundams and the assumed death of the pilots. But both friends lived through the ordeal and met each other once again, agreeing to work together to end the war. The Strike gundam was salvaged by Morgenroete and was rebuilt with modifications, and since Kira had the ZAFT unit Freedom with him when he returned to the Archangle, the new Strike was given to former Skygrasper pilot, Mwu la Flaga. For a natural, Flaga piloted Strike exceptionally well and used it till the second battle of Jachin Due, at the end of the first war, where Mwu sacrificed himself in order to save the Archangel against an attack from its sister ship, the Dominion.

Yzak felt that now was his time to put in his two cents, "The war is over now, and only we can keep it that way. It seems everyone who is given charge of something, is always driven by hate. Our fight is not over yet, we still have a long way to go in order to achieve peace between naturnals and coordinators. In light of all the events that have taken place, I know there are still people out there who believe in only destroying those unlike them. It won't be easy to find them all out and stop them before they do something extreme. I don't want history repeating itself just because some fool has an inferiority complex."

"So they will have to step over your dead body before anything right" chimed Dearka with a broad smile. "Yup! And Zala if you even think about stealing my position this time, I will kill you myself!" roared Yzak.

"I dont think you'll have anything to worry about Yzak. I think I will stay with ORB this time." Athrun said with a small smile. Everyone knew that most likely Athrun would choose to stay with ORB, like he did in the last war, but it still came as a sort of shock to them when he declared it. Even after everything he did, Athrun was still viewed as a traitor in ZAFT, not only because he defected in the previous war, but because he did it again a second time. But that did not matter to him, he did not need to go back to ZAFT, he only joined them believing in Chancellor Dullindal. He felt he couldn't trust many within ZAFT, but he knew he could trust Cagalli and ORB.

At this Yzak was silent, not knowing how to respond to Athrun. Since the academy, it had been a constant competition between the two, more so from Yzak's side than Athrun. To others it seemed as Yzak hated Athrun, while the other did not care the least. But the truth is that Yzak admires Athrun for his strength but at the same time resents Athrun's lack of resolve. Athrun in turn respects Yzak because Yzak is older than him and does hold a lot of talent but resents his emotional flares. Both are equally matched, but with Yzak's childishness, he tends to lose more because of his temper. In the end, both boys are determined and moved by their values, duty and dedication in protecting their homes. Each knows the others strength and admires him for it, but neither will ever admit it to the other, a sort of silent friendship. When Yzak found out that Athrun self-destructed the Aegis in an attempt to destroy Strike, he was deeply saddened to lose another friend and comrade to the war, and so in finding out that Athrun was infact alive, he made a resolve to act more respectfully towards the younger man. Since the first war, Yzak has seen his error in judgement and worked to rectify it by trying to control his anger. Since getting command of the Voltaire and Rousseau, Yzak has shown that he is quite capable of handling difficult situations, planning ahead and always taking measures to minimize losses. Graduating top of his class, only second to Athrun, Yzak bears the same skill and talents as Athrun and Kira. He can hold his own against enemies and has proven his superior combat style in close quarter combat, making him a formidable opponent.

"Well don't let them run you dry." stated Yzak before turning towards his Zaku. "Didn't know you cared so much about me Yzak" Athrun said. "I don't! I just need my rival healthy so I can have a fair match" Yzak chimmed back towards Zala.

"I'll see you around Athrun, take care," Dearka voiced "Keep in touch stranger. Come on guys, time to head back and get everything worked out." With a quick smile towards everyone, Dearka started making his way towards his Zaku, as one of the Voltaire shuttles entered the Eternal's bay. _Guess Shiho must have sent it._

Lacus thought it was strange that Miriallia didn't say a word to Dearka, neither did he make any attempts to start a conversation with her. She had felt that Milly honestly liked the guy but didn't understand why the two avoided each other. "Aren't you going to talk to him before he leaves Miri?" Lacus suggested. "No Lacus, it's best that it stays this way" replied Milly. She then turned and bid farewell to Shinn and Lunamaria, but didn't know if Meyrin was leaving with them. Luna turned around when she noticed her sister didn't follow them, "Meyrin, aren't you coming?" she asked. Meyrin thought about it for a minute, she knew that she betrayed ZAFT and that there will be some animosity between her and the Minerva's crew. She felt going back now would only make things worse for her sister.

"No I think I will stay with the Eternal for now, it is still a ZAFT ship, even if its not a part of the fleet. I don't think I will be welcomed amongst the others because I defected and I don't want to cause any trouble." Meyrin stated. After being separated from her sister since her defection, all she wanted was to be re-united with her sister, and now even though the war is over, she had to wait before she could go back home with her sister. It wasn't because she felt alone but because she wanted everything back to the way it used to be before this war started. But she knew that would never happen, and even then she still wished it.

Luna could see what her sister wanted and felt the need to protect her sister but knew she couldn't. "Its no trouble, but if you want to stay with the Eternal then its fine." Luna replied grasping what her sister's true implication was.

"Nothing will happen to her Luna, you have my word." Athrun stated. "I know, Athurn, I know" Luna said with a sad smile. "I guess I'll see you all soon ne" with that she turned around and made her way to the shuttle, taking one last glance with Shinn, of the people who were now their comrades.

With that, both Zakus and the shuttle requested clearance for launch and were on their way back to the Voltaire. At the leave of their friends, Lacus looked around the bay, realising there were a number of ZAFT and EA personnal in the bay, probably picked up by the shuttles. The injured were being taken care off, but most were well off thanks to the fact that Kira and Athrun took time to disable their suits. She knew she had to make arrangements for these people to find transport back to their homes.

"Shall we make our way to the bridge and see how everything is going?" Lacus inquired. "Yes we need to find everyone transports back to Earth or the PLANTs." answered Murrue. With that, everyone made their way to the bridge, with the exception of Athrun, who decided to turn in for the next couple of hours before they were on their way. Upon entering the bridge, Meyrin took her post while the captain of the Eternal, Andrew Waltfeld, reported on everything that transpired, "Almost 85 of the pilots and crews have been picked up by all ORB ships, we are rounding up the rest as we speak. It won't be long before we get everyone, and once we finish that, we will need to separate everyone in order to get them all home."

"I think its best if we have the Archangel with the remaing Alliance vessels escort all EA personnel back to Earth, while the Eternal and ORB vessels help the ZAFT personnel get home." stated Mwu. "That is if its alright with you Miss Clyne."

"I think that is best, I don't want any conflicts between EA and ZAFT soldiers. Its best if everyone gets their space to think on the events of this war more in depth."

"Then its settled, we'll be on our way in 5 hours, repairs on the Archangel will be done in 2 hours, but I want to give the crew a break. It gives us some time to ourselves also." spoke Ramius. "We should be getting back to the Archangel, I will send over all the ZAFT soldiers we picked up. We'll take all the EA soldiers onboard over with us and start making preperations to head home."

"Thank you Ramius-kanchou" Lacus said with a smile. "No thanks needed" was the instant reply. They had all come too far together that they would do anything for one another. With that said, Ramius called on Milly, who was speaking with Meyrin about the Eternal, to make their way back to the Launch bay. As they left the bridge, Lacus had DaCosta announce to the crew that once the pilots were picked up and all major repairs were finished, they can have the next three hours off. She also asked him to take care of making living arrangements for the EA soldiers. Once the Archangel shuttle was launched and on their way back, she retired to her own quaters until departure time, knowing the next few days would be eventful.

**Author Note:**

I will have the next chapter up mid next week, probably on the 9th of April, if not earlier. Thank you to everyone who wrote reviews, I appreciate the feedback very much.


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